Bittersweet and Heart
by TheRookieKing412
Summary: Bittersweet: cafe au. In which Ahiru hates coffee, Rue loves coffee, and Fakir is the only person in the world who can make a decent cup of coffee. Heart: botany au. In which Fakir has a brown thumb and Ahiru is a botanist specializing in care for the Heart Shard plant.
1. Bittersweet

She didn't really like coffee.

Never had, and probably never will.

Making it at home, she could never get it sweet enough, or she would go overboard. The amount of cream was never right and gave it an odd taste she didn't appreciate.

So, what's a young girl to do?

Not drink it and avoid the Green Mermaid at all costs.

However, her friend Rue had the awful habit of taking her on dates at different cafes around the area.

"You'll simply love the coffee they have here, it's astonishing, Ahiru!"

She nodded and smiled.

She never got coffee but she tried whatever Rue ordered and would grimace before taking a bite of pastry to get rid of the taste.

That was another thing about coffee.

It likes to stick around all day no matter what she did. And, soon, all coffee dates had turned into coffee dates for Rue and a pastry date for her.

Not that she minded, the smell of coffee was fine, and spending time with her old college roommate was fun, or at least it was.

"Oh! Ahiru, I know you've sworn off coffee but I found this place! It opened up a week ago and my friends have been raving about it. I tried it today and we have to go there for our next meet up! Try a sip, please? For me?" She said in the phone.

And how could she say no? "One sip, but you have to buy me that coffee gum if I don't like it."

Rue laughed, "Deal!"

So, on Thursday morning, at ten, Ahiru took an hour long break to see Rue and this new coffee shop she was so adamant about. And it was nice, the colors warm, painted lightly on the walls, the din of orders and quiet conversation, and of course the smell of coffee filtering the air.

It made Ahiru smile, she liked cafes like this simply because they were quaint and homey.

Ahiru made her way outside where Rue always insisted on sitting. Unless, of course, it had decided to rain that day. Then they'd sit by the window.

Overcast, but not raining, Ahiru found her seat across from Rue, a cheese danish with steam still rising off its crust and a large coffee cup in front of Rue.

"Mmm, it smells great!" Ahiru plopped down and placed a napkin in her lap - if her guardian taught her one thing, it was manners.

"I took the liberty of ordering for you since I figured you'd be late."

Ahiru giggled guiltily before picking up her pastry, but Rue held up a finger.

"Ah-uh-uh!" Rue scolded, pushing the coffee cup towards her. "I didn't drink it so you'd have the first drink. You know the first drink is the best one."

The perfectly white rim with no traces of red lipstick anywhere was testament to the fact that Rue had waited to let her take the first taste.

Ahiru rolled her eyes, preparing for the worst.

Bittersweet.

Ahiru blinked in surprise. She normally didn't like bitter things, but the slight hazelnut, the rich texture, and the absolute perfect mixture of bitter coffee and sweet sugar.

Ahiru was hooked.

"What do you think?"

Ahiru was a little shell-shocked and shrugged.

Rue sighed, "Oh well, at least you didn't spit it out like the last one. The barista was so insulted."

Rue sipped her coffee while Ahiru nibbled on her danish, and Rue finished a lot faster than Ahiru did.

"Oh damn," Rue cursed, checking her watch. "I forgot I had a meeting scheduled in ten minutes. You don't mind if I leave early do you?"

"Not at all, I can sit in quiet for a bit." Ahiru smiled and Rue left her empty coffee cup on the table. They would bus it, she said.

Ahiru waited until she was sure Rue was gone when she headed inside.

"Um, excuse me," She said as she approached the counter. "Do you make the coffee?"

A young man turned toward her and she almost gasped when she saw his face.

He was scary.

"Yes I do, why?"

Ahiru bit her lip, he wasn't scowling or glaring but he had what Pique would call a "Resting Bitch Face".

"Well, I hate coffee-"

"So why are you here?"

"Oh! Um- my friend! She, uh!"

"Spit it out." He didn't quite sound impatient, but almost there.

"I love your coffee." Ahiru blurted out. "Coffee is normally really gross, nowhere in town is there coffee that's any good, but yours is…" she trailed off as the young man's face turned to one of shock and then…

Then a pleasant blush grew across his cheeks.

"Well, ahem, thank you."

She hummed in agreement and they both stood there awkwardly until someone coughed behind her. "Oh! Can I order a cup!"

"Sure, what will it be?"

"Uh." Ahiru looked up at the board and saw many choices and started to panic. It was obvious the man behind her was impatient but she never ordered coffee before and she had no idea what she liked. Rue never told her the name of the coffee she ordered and all she remembered was the taste of hazelnut but it didn't seem like there were any hazelnut specific options on the board. And the man started rapping his foot and-!

"Do you trust me?" The young man behind the counter asked and Ahiru nodded her head. Then…

Then he smiled, he smiled a brilliant smile and all thoughts of him being scary faded from her mind. She gave him her card to pay and he told her he would bring her her drink and she went back to her table.

She turned back when she approached the door and she saw him glance at her before finishing his exchange with the other man.

She was nervous.

She didn't remember the last time she ordered coffee and now it seemed like it was taking too long.

Rue always had her coffee when Ahiru got there, or only had to wait a minute or so after she got there. But Ahiru was always late.

She almost got up to check in the young man when he came out the door. A cup of coffee balanced on a tray he carried. She smiled relieved and that made him blush again.

"It's a white chocolate mocha." He paused, "it's my favorite."

"Thank you." She picked it up and took a sip and the same bittersweet taste floated over her tongue. It was different from what Rue had but it was wonderful all the same. "It's perfect."

That made the young man happy, as evident from a small smile he let escape; he turned to go back inside.

"Wait! My name is Ahiru."

"Fakir." He stuck out his hand and she shook it.

It felt like she had a dirty secret.

Every morning she set her clock to wake her up fifteen minutes earlier so she could have Fakir make her the world's most wonderful coffee. And every morning she'd get something different.

On Thursday mornings, at ten, she would come as early as possible and order a to go coffee and told Rue it was hot chocolate, tea, anything but coffee.

Fakir would always suggest coffees for her and she was happy to try them and he was happy to make them.

She soon learned his schedule, so she knew when not to go since the other barista, Autor made nowhere near as good of a cup as Fakir did.

Even after work, or on a bad day, or when she started to crave a taste of his coffee.

One day however, she arrived a little too late.

Before Rue, yes, but she placed her order right as Rue come in through the door.

"Ahiru!" She called, "My goodness, you've been making such great time these past few days." Rue placed her order and it was the same as Ahiru's.

So when Fakir said, "Alright, two orders of caramel macchiato, one to go one for stay, will that be all?"

"Fakir!" Ahiru whined, she wasn't quite ready to give up her secret.

"Oh," Fakir realized his mistake. "Oops."

Rue left after downing her coffee, obviously miffed, and saying she had a meeting to go to.

Ahiru sighed, she had only taken a few sips of coffee when a dark hand placed a danish in front of her.

"Aren't you supposed to be working?" She said, rather bitterly.

"I'm sorry, I forgot you didn't want to tell her yet." He said, rather sweetly. "At least it's out now."

Ahiru sighed and picked up the danish - thanking him, manners were still important, even when mad - and started eating it. "I was just worried about what she would think, she knows I hate coffee, but she's been searching for a place that would have decent coffee ever since she meet me."

He nodded.

"It's not her fault that people can't make coffee like you! But most people don't make good coffee. She just wanted me to like something as much as she loves it."

He nodded again.

She rubbed her neck and smiled, "I'm sure she's thinking of a way to get me back as we speak."

A corner of his lip went up. "I would think so, she seems like the type."

"I have been lying to her for a long time now."

"It wasn't lying. Did she ever ask if you liked the coffee?"

"Well no." Ahiru shook her head. "But I told her I was drinking tea instead."

"She was more concerned with whether or not you liked it, not so much what you were drinking."

Ahiru's lip tucked down, "still feels dirty."

"You can always make it up to her."

Ahiru smiled. "How?"

Fakir had become a good friend. At first, he was just her coffee dealer, showing her the world of coffee she had been all but blinded to for the past two decades, but it's not like she hung out with him, until now.

After work, she would hang out by the counter and eventually behind it, making sure not to bother Fakir when he had to make coffee and take orders, but even then he was still commenting on what she said.

At some point, she started helping him make the coffee. She knew where everything was so if he asked her for cream, or sugar, or syrup, or sauce, she would grab it and hand it to him.

They made a good team, and orders got out a lot faster.

The only condition was that she had to be out from behind the counter before eight thirty, when Autor came. Sometimes she was late, but he would just glare at her as she dashed out from behind the counter.

One night, she was handing Fakir the chocolate syrup when Autor came into work at six thirty.

"Autor? What are you doing here so early?" Ahiru asked as she scrambled out of the way.

"I'm relieving Fakir." He said, grudgingly.

Fakir smiled a charming smile, "I owe you one."

Autor muttered as he threw on his apron and Fakir took off his.

"Will you wait for me while I change?"

Ahiru smiled and nodded, "Of course."

He went into the break room and came out in jeans and a dark blue button down. The sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

"You look really nice! What's the occasion?"

"I wanted to show you some of my favorite places." He grinned brightly before it faded, "Unless, you'd rather not."

"No I'd love to!" Ahiru giggled. She grabbed her purse from where she had it stashed under the counter, earning a glare from Autor before following him out the door.

Both missing the smiles the regulars gave them as they walked out.

"So where did you want to go?" Ahiru asked, taking his hand innocently.

He wrapped his fingers around hers, innocently. "It's a little out of the way," he paused, "And in the woods, but I promise I'm not bringing you out there to kill you and hide your body."

Ahiru laughed, "okay sounds good."

He drove to the edge of the forest and they climbed out when his car couldn't go any further.

He had a flashlight but soon they didn't need it. A white gazebo, draped with vines and ivy, was glowing lightly, lamps lit and creating a warm yellow light.

"Fakir, this is beautiful."

"My friend Mytho turned on the lights for me." He smiled, "I'm glad he didn't get himself lost, he doesn't usually come out here by himself."

Ahiru giggled and he brought her to a red checkered blanket that had been laid out on the bottom of the gazebo floor.

He blushed a little but pulled something out, a few sheets of paper staples together. "Here, I wanted you to have this."

Ahiru perked up and took it.

"It's the first time we meet." He said quietly.

Ahiru looked down and saw typed words.

A story.

She began to read, he had described her. Sitting at the table. Rushing in, flustered to tell him she liked his coffee and no one else's. It was sweet.

"It's beautiful, Fakir."

"I went to college to be a writer. I wrote a couple of children's stories but no publisher would take them, they were unoriginal, they said." Fakir sighed, "but I guess they were right. They were just rehashed fairy tales I wrote because I thought I could write them better."

Ahiru gently stroked the papers, his and her story.

"I got that job after working a couple of others. I don't normally stick around with other jobs simply because they don't suit me. But then you came along."

Ahiru looked up at him and his eyes were on her.

"People stay away from me typically, Mytho says my appearance is frightening to the weak of heart. But you came along and you told me how much you liked my coffee and I got inspired to write. It had been months since I wanted to write something."

"I inspired you?" Ahiru asked sweetly. It was a little strange, being someone's muse, but out of all the artists in the world, she was glad she was Fakir's.

"Yeah, I-" he blushed again. "I've found I'm rather good at writing romance. I tried my hand at it, wrote a few short stories, and a publishing company wants me to write a full length novel."

"Wow Fakir that's great!" Ahiru was happy for him, but if she was his muse…

"I'll have to quit my job if I want to be able to meet the deadline, but I only ever see you at work." He chuckles lightly, "I stayed a lot longer at that job than I thought I was going to because of you."

"I'm glad I met you." Ahiru said. "Can I keep this?" Gesturing to the story in her hands.

"Of course. I wanted to get an actual copy for you, a real book with a cover. But I didn't have the time. I started my two weeks notice."

"Oh." Ahiru was a little deflated, she liked seeing Fakir, how would she find excuses if he didn't work at the only cafe that served good coffee?

"So, I uh-" he cleared his throat and a hearty blush stained his cheeks and Ahiru's heart melted. "I wanted to ask you out."

"You did that earlier."

"No, I mean on a date, to dinner, and a movie." Fakir sat up suddenly so he could look her in the eye. "Or, or, or something else if that's too cheesy. Anything you want to do. So long as it's with me."

Ahiru smiled and hid it by looking down. She played with the edges of the paper. "Ahiru?"

"You know there's this movie I really wanted to see on the fifteenth, if you're available, and a new restaurant Rue was telling me about that sounded really good."

Fakir smiled and took her hand. "I'll look up movie times."

"And Fakir?"

"Yes?"

Ahiru fidgeted nervously.

"Spit it out." He said, sweetly.

"Will you still make me coffee?"

Written a year ago for Fakiru week in an airport after drinking some really atrocious coffee and I never posted it to Tumblr because it was too long? Anyway that's it.


	2. Heart

Fakir wasn't really one for gardening.

Charon once said that he had a brown thumb.

And that made him stick out like a sore thumb.

Every person in his family - his mother, father, Charon, Raetsel, Mytho and even the damn dog - were exceptional farmers.

He didn't know why he didn't get the gene, or why it decided to skip him, but at this point in life, he was made fun of so much about if he decided he hated flowers.

Vegetables and herbs were fine, they were food so it was necessary, and as long as he didn't have to look at a vegetable garden, he was fine.

Flowers, however, he was allowed to hate unabashedly. It didn't matter where he saw them - growing in pots, dirt, windowsills, the cracks in the sidewalk - he would scoff and turn away, sometimes stomping on it, if he was especially pissed off.

How Raetsel convinced him to take her to the botanical gardens, he wasn't sure, but he was sure he would hate every minute of it.

She walked around, humming as she looked and smelled the roses, while Fakir lumbered behind he, arms crossed, scowl firmly in place.

He didn't expect to lose Raetsel either.

They had made their way into the greenhouse and while he was glaring at a particular green thing she had wandered off so when he turned around, she was nowhere to be seen.

He scoffed.

He would leave and wait for her in the car. It was better than trying to find her, but first…

He'd have to find a way out.

Fakir heard humming and for a moment he thought he had found her but instead only found a worker.

She carried some tools and was tending to a plant, humming to it, it appeared, caressing it's leaves, and, when he got close enough to hear, talking to it.

"You're doing so well here! I told you you would be fine. You always doubt me. I think the other plants like you." She giggled lightly and as mad as Fakir was it was a pretty gosh darn cute sound.

He cleared his throat, making her jump. "I'm sorry I- do you work here?"

"Hmm? Oh well, technically no, technically yes."

"Well which is it?" A rather snappy answer.

Which made her flinch. "Technically, I work for Siegfried, here." Pointing to the plant.

"You work for the plant?" He said, tones of disbelief strong.

She nodded and hummed in agreement. "Come here!"

Fakir tilled his eyes but knelt down next to her to look at the moronic flower.

"He's called the heart shard flower."

Fakir examined the petals, red with a slight pinkish tint at the edges.

"When you squeeze it like this…" the worker gently placed her fingers on the base of the petals, just where it came from the stem, and pushed them together. Creating the shape of a heart, a lumpy one, but you can't blame plants for not being perfect. "They're dying." She said, sadly, as she let the heart shatter.

"They're going extinct?"

She hummed in agreement. "They require a lot of special care. Where they're from, the people used to worship the plant and figured out how to care for it and make it thrive. But since people don't tend to worship plants anymore, they're not doing as well."

"So they hired you just to look after this plant?"

She smiled, "yup! I studied for years to figure out how to take care of it properly, and I do pretty well with Seig, but, I can't say the same for others."

Fakir didn't care about plants. "Are people not protecting them the way you are?"

He didn't care if the heart shard whatever shriveled up and died.

"It's too much work. But the goal of this garden is eventually to turn this greenhouse entirely into a nursery for the heart shard."

The heart shards could all be picked to pieces and eaten by crows.

"So that's what you're doing? Saving an entire breed of plant?"

"I'm trying!"

Really? Did they not let ravens into the greenhouse?

"That's noble of you."

"Fakir, dear there you are!" Raetsel found him. "Hello dear," She said to the worker, "is he bothering you?"

"Nope!" She turned to me, "Fakir, huh? That's I weird name but I think I have you beat!"

Fakir felt the corner of his lip go up, "and what's worse than Fakir?"

"Ahiru."

It meant duck in Japanese.

Fakir has on a pair of reading glasses as he sat with his laptop. And the heart shard flower was in the decline.

Ahiru Armia was listed in several articles about the flower. Apparently, she was a hero in the botany world.

He didn't know why, but he found himself buying a ticket to the botanical gardens the next day.

He walked straight to the greenhouse, not once glaring at the blooming colors.

And he found her again.

Kneeling, humming, and talking to Siegfried.

"Look at you!" She cooed, "I'm so proud of you, that move was stressful but we made it alright!"

"Move?"

"Fakir!" Her eyes lit up and it sounded as if she was happy to see him again. "Here, sit!"

He sat down. "Where did you move him from?"

"While, we had to go get him from his home in Darkest Peru." She said dramatically, "We had a whole team to get him, and I had to go so as to make sure they didn't mistreat him." She shook a leave as if it were a hand. "He lost a few leaves and petals." She pouted.

"But he's thriving. Thanks to you, no doubt."

She blushed at the comment. "I like to think he's a fighter."

"So you went to Peru?"

"I did! It was quite the adventure. A bit scary at times too."

He smiled, "anything like Indiana Jones."

"There was no music playing for me," she sighed, "but I did have to swing across a river on a rope and that felt very Indiana Jones-y."

She reached over to get one of her tools and started spraying the flower, but only on the stems, she was careful to avoid the leaves and petals.

"Did you always think you'd be doing this?"

She giggled again. "Honestly? No, I wanted to become a regular ole flower shop owner, or a gardener, but when I went to school, there was a class about exotic plants and that's when I learned about the heart shard plant. I was hooked. I wanted to know everything about them and I fell in love."

He smiled at her, he moved his knees so they were bent in front of him rather than under him.

"When I got the opportunity to go and get one? You have no idea how ecstatic I was!" There was a fire in her eyes and Fakir knew it was only a glimpse of what she had felt. "Going was scary, it was dark and there were lots of bugs!"

"But it was worth it."

She grinned. "Yeah, it really was." She busied herself with her plant, trimming some dead leaves. "I will admit though, no one knows how to plant one, no ones ever tried, the people who worshiped them just let them do that one their own."

"Do you have two different gendered heart shard plants?" He had done his research, and it paid off, seeing her light up the way she did.

"We do!" She stood. "I'll show you to her."

Fakir stood, rubbed the dirt off his jeans and followed her. "She's a little less spectacular than Siegfried, so it took us a while to figure out that she was the female counterpart."

Fakir followed and bent down to look at a small plant with green leaves and not much else.

"This is Odile."

"Odile? I thought Odette and Siegfried were in love?"

Ahiru shrugged, "I always felt like that never made sense."

Fakir shook his head. "You're strange."

She giggled. "All in all, I think it's a fitting name for her, she's a little less extravagant, I think for her to be an Odette she'd have to have bigger plumage."

Fakir smiled.

And he found himself coming back.

And back.

And back.

And back again.

Back one more time.

Who could resist? He came back.

She was easy to talk to, she cared deeply about her two plants, she was sweet.

She told him all about her time in Peru, her daring escapes from spiders, having to hide from wild animals, and finding the ruins of an ancient civilization that was home to the heart shard flower.

For the first time in over a year, Fakir was inspired to clack his fingers across the keyboard of his laptop and write.

"But of course, Autor wouldn't stop nagging me for bringing so much, I thought I packed essentials and he thought I packed luxury items. But it wasn't like I brought a grandfather clock!"

Fakir snickered.

The two of them ate lunch in the greenhouse, Fakir had bought some on the way there and the greenhouse was the perfect place to eat, he thought.

Autor was a secondary botanist, but his specialty lied more in making sure no one used poisonous and itching plants as toilet paper.

"He sounds terrific." He snarked.

"Oh he was the worst!" Ahiru smiled then, "we still email each other, he likes to know how Siegfried and Odile are doing."

"Speaking of, isn't it time to-"

"Oh shoot!" She put down the lunch and rushed over to her plants to tend to them and Fakir laughed at her.

He decided that he liked her a few days ago - as much as he tried to deny it - and wanted to ask her out. They had never seen each other outside of the greenhouse.

She came rushing back, a little dirtier than before and plucked up her lunch before sitting next to him. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something?"

"Sure, shoot." He said, taking a bite.

"Do you want to go out some time?"

Fakir nearly choked on his food.

And that seemed to hurt her, "oh, well if you're that opposed to it!"

"No!" He yelled waving his hands around before grabbing her arm. "I was just surprised because I wanted to ask you out."

Her mouth made a shape similar to that of a circle then a great, big smile plastered her face. "Okay! Well, I asked you out first-" she stuck out her tongue at him. "- so I get to choose what we do."

He smiled at her as she started gibbering away at what she had planned.

He just smiled and nodded and looked over at that stupid plant.

Maybe plants weren't so bad as Fakir thought.

Written on the plane ride home, so a lot more mistakes.


End file.
